Marshall University Athletics
Leftwich Has Career Day As Herd Downs Buffalo 34-14
10/13/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Leftwich Has Career Day As Herd Downs Buffalo 34-14
10/13/2001
AMHERST, N.Y. (AP) -- Byron Leftwich passed for a career-high 455 yards on a school-record 37 completions to lead Marshall to a 34-14 victory over Buffalo on Saturday.
Leftwich threw for 225 yards in the first quarter, as the Thundering Herd (4-1, 3-0 Mid-American) picked apart a Buffalo defense that entered the game allowing 149.4 yards passing per game, ninth in the nation.
Darius Watts had seven receptions for 132 yards, and Josh Davis had nine catches for 69 yards.
Buffalo's Joe Freedy completed 16 of 33 passes for 207 yards. Derrick Gordon rushed for 137 yards for the Bulls (1-5, 0-4).
Buffalo recovered Franklin Wallace's fumble on the game's first drive, but had to punt.
On the ensuing drive, Leftwich connected with Davis for a 19-yard touchdown.
Then, when Marshall forced Buffalo to punt after three plays, Leftwich guided a 56-yard drive that culminated in his 6-yard scoring run.
Marshall made it 24-0 in the second quarter behind a 24-yard field goal by Curtis Head and a 1-yard rush by Wallace.
Buffalo got on the board in the third quarter, scoring on Albert Grundy's 2-yard run. But Marshall countered with a 4-yard pass from Leftwich to Curtis Jones to make it 31-7.
Head added a 37-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter, and Gordon capped the scoring with a 2-yard TD run.
In addition to his numbers in the game, Leftwich also continued his steady climb up the Marshall career passing charts. He now has 416 career completions and 5,074 yards. His two TD passes give him 36 for his career, moving him past Eric Kresser for seventh on the Herd career list.
The 455 yards passing Leftwich turned in was the fourth best single-game performance in school history. The school record of 496 yards was set by Michael Payton against VMI in 1991.
